The Fatal Game | Mt. Everest Climbers Documentary | Full Movie | Richard Dennison

(majestic instrumental music) - [Mike] No one goes into the mountains to die. - [Mark] People take risks, but climbing is about safety. - [Mike] However the margin does narrow when you go to altitude. - [Mark] climbers develop judgment, but when your judgment is wrong that's when the game's fatal. - [Narrator] When it comes to mountain guides, Mark Whetu is one of the luckiest. At 37, he's climbed Mt Everest twice, the hard way. Via the north ridge. And he is still alive. Today he is leading a t

eam of inexperienced climbers up the world's sixth highest mountain, Cho Oyu in Tibet. This is mountaineering in the '90s, sort of a summit last. Anyone can conquer an 8,000 meter mountain. They can even ski off the top. It's an attainable high, but Mark Whetu is not so confident. He has a deep concern for the lives of his clients, for he knows how easily a mountain can become a ruthless killer. Mark's feet have paid the price of a freezing night spent on the highest point on Earth, but still he

has to climb to try and erase something more than a physical loss. A deep psychological scar. For Mark had to make an unbearable decision to save his own life and to leave a sick and disabled friend alone on the summit of Everest. - [Mark] Even though I tried my best, I still had this feeling that I could have done more. I guess it's just something that's instilled into you. I mean you just do not do that. When I got home and having so much time alone to look back and go through all the what if

s. I had this overwhelming sense of guilt. - [Narrator] In the spring of 1994 Mark Whetu joined an American expedition in Tibet, to attempt the notorious North Ridge of Everest. Mark from New Zealand was to join up with an old friend from Australia, Mike Rheinberger, who at 53, was making his seventh bid for the summit. - [Mark] The fact that he hadn't climbed it was becoming an obsession. He was the sort of person, that he didn't really like to fail. He didn't accept failure. It's not like he t

ook failure badly, he just didn't accept it. So he was determined to overcome it. - It's not very pleasant, because you're fighting against a lot of different things. You're fighting against the fact that obviously on six previous visits, you haven't been successful in the sense that you haven't summited. So you're carrying around with you, a lot of baggage which has to do with why in the past you didn't suit. So it's hard not to think at times, what's going to go wrong this time, perhaps. - [Na

rrator] Mark had the job of guiding, and with another colleague, Mike Perry, was videoing Mike's summit attempt. Had he known of the epic struggle he would record, he may never have taken the job. - [Mark] He was sick of failing. It was really starting to become, the only focus in his life. He came home from Everest in '93, '93 was famous for 39 people standing on the summit on one day. And Mike missed out. - [Narrator] Mountaineering has a direct relationship with mortality. Mountains win respe

ct for the number of lives they take. Mountaineers make their reputations for the number of times they can cheat death. But Mount Everest, Sagarmatha, Mother Goddess of Earth, exacts the highest toll. For every six climbers that achieve the summit, one will die. Nearly 150 ghosts haunt the parapets of this mountain. - I don't think my life is going back and change at all. I think at a very personal level, I will be able to put something aside and I think if I'm going to experience anything at al

l as I step on to the summit, it will be an overwhelming sense of relief, because I really have been making a profound commitment to this hill, for a hell of a long time. At a pretty insignificant level, it would be nice to go back to my old school, as the first person from my old college to have climbed Everest, and equally I think I'd be the first graduate from the University of Melbourne to climb Everest and whether they ever get to hear about it and invite me over to have tea with the Vice C

hancellor or something, that would be fun. I don't think it will mean, wealth. It certainly won't mean fame, because Everest has gone past the point of providing fame for it's summiteers. I think a real sense of personal achievement, in my case will be the reward. - [Narrator] In this gamble with nature the climbers will climb in six stages to what is called the death zone. The destination is Camp six at 8,300 meters. There on the threshold of the summit the air is one third the density of sea l

evel, and the body is literally dying, starved of oxygen. It cannot generate enough heat to stay warm. The digestive track starts to eat itself. The lungs and brain swell so much, that the strongest climber can without warning, perish with a cerebral or pulmonary edema. And if the body holds out and you are lucky enough to get good weather, you might have a chance to get to the summit and back. But the chances are, that you won't. - [Mark] Over the years of hearing about his summit failures, a l

ot of it was really based on his mountain judgement. He really, I don't think, had a lot of experience in decision making. He had a weakness which was his conservative approach, and we talked about a lot and I said you know, you're going to have to go for it. He's like, well what do you mean? He wanted a definition for go for it. And I said, well you know, you've got to pick the day, and focus and really commit. - [Mike] I have to admit that I've found myself being swept along on a tide of great

uncertainty. It's a now or never, a do or die. Not literally I hope, but a situation that somehow I've got to adopt an attitude, which I haven't done in the past. Something I don't easily get out of my brain at all is the fear of being caught out, by the fact that perhaps one hasn't been quick enough to get to the top and get back to safety in daylight. - [Mark] He had an incredible life really, a very accomplished person in many areas. An incredible mind for detail of things. He could give you

a three hour lecture on the origins of the English language. Socially hilarious. He had this incredible repertoire of jokes. They were very entertaining, he was sort of that classic round the campfire, round the dinner table conversationalist. He was sort of commonly referred to as the Renaissance Man, because he was into the classics of life in a way. I used to hate his music. God, he obviously couldn't sing, because he always sounded flat when he was humming these bloody classic stuff that he

always listened to, and he was always next door to me, because we always had our tents close together, and I was always trying to outdo him with my favorites. And of course he couldn't stand Guns and Roses, or anything I liked, although I was starting to get him into Smashing Pumpkins a little bit. In a way, Mike was sort of like a big brother. The big brother I never had perhaps. - [Cameraman] How do you go through the process of psyching yourself up? - [Mike] Primarily by letting myself be wa

shed over with all the nice thoughts that would come, from finally going home and being able to look certain people in the eye, and say well look, finally I've done the bloody thing. One more step, you can always make one more step. - [Mark] Perry and I basically made a pact, that it was going to take him and I, to get him up. We were going to actually have to drag this guy up, and get him up, and get him back. I mean that was the plan all the way, and I mean we got to Camp six together. But unf

ortunately, Perry had an aneurism of some sort, and lost his speech. And obviously he had to descend immediately. So then all of a sudden I was there, with Rheinberger. - Having been up there so close now, on several occasions, and knowing the pain, and the uncertainty, particularly, I think the uncertainty, that one has to go through, and it's got to be gone through. You can't sidestep it in any way. We've got to go through the pain, and the uncertainty of the summit day. - [Mark] Mike's troubl

es began really the night before. Because we had planned to leave at 1 in the morning, but it was too windy, so we decided to re-schedule, and we thought okay, if we're away by 2 o'clock, we'll still be on for a summit chance. As it turned out, we didn't leave til 3.30, which really, unless you're very fast, is too late. And, that's really what happened. We left, and we were late. - You know you think about Everest, and just, particularly on this route from the North, many of the difficulties, i

n fact, probably the most serious and difficult parts of the route, happen on the summit day. - [Mark] Climbing with him on that day, it became pretty clear to me that, the climb was really blowing him away. You've got to deal with three steps, is what they're known as. First, second, and third step. It's steep, it's exposed and you just happen to be in a down suit, with crampons on. Things were becoming very slow when we were trying, when Mike came up the first step, and I just remember taking

notice that, he seemed to be very tired. That was really just before the second step that I realized, actually how late it was. Was when Dave Staley, who was with us, on the summit attempt, he actually turned around, and said it's after 2 o'clock, it's too late for me. And I didn't realize it was that late, I thought it was maybe 11.30, midday kind of. And, then I realized that there's no way we'll summit. - What I've been trying to do, in preparing myself mentally for this trip, is to try and a

nticipate, all the things that could go wrong on a summit day, and work out in my own brain, before hand how I might deal with them. - [Crew 1] They're at the foot of the second step. And I think Dave's going to turn back. I don't know about Mark and Mike. They're moving so agonizingly slow. It's taken them 8 hours to get to this point, I don't see how they could ever make it. - [Mark] By the time we got to the third step, I mean it was late, it was getting towards evening, as opposed to mid aft

ernoon. - [Crew 2] I can just see Whetu and Rheinberger. There they are right by the first step. 28 700, still going, slow. It's going to take them another couple of hours to get to the top that way. - [Mark] So I said to him, this is it digger, it's all over mate. We're out of here, and it was like I wasn't there, you know. I was amazed. He said well how far is it to the summit, and I was just like, it's too late. It's a couple of hours away at least. And Mike just quite casually, but very dete

rmined says, OK, we'll bivvy. A bivouac is like a shelter, to dig a snow hole, or find somewhere like in the rocks to find somewhere to lie down and wait for sunlight again to continue on down. And that concept just seemed to be outrageous to me, to be almost 8,800 meters, and he's thinking about bivvying at the third step. - Ultimately, your salvation, your health, your well-being, with all your fingers and toes, is up to you. And only up to you, because up there, ultimately it's your decision

as to whether you think you can get to the top and get back to safety. - [Mark] I tried pretty hard to turn him around. But by the way he reacted, it was quite obvious, had I turned around, he would have continued, for sure. I'm quite sure of that. I figured that it was safer to stay with Mike, because the fact that I knew the way, so I carried on with him, and continued to film. He had that feeling that he could climb it, and he was that close. Which he was. He was that close. - [Crew] 5.56, th

ere's about an hour of daylight left. About an hour from the top. Man they got a long trip down. They're either going to run out of oxygen, or daylight. If they get down, they've pulled it off. If they lose their hands and feet, I guess they made a bad call. - [Mark] Mike took a while to climb it, he was very slow, but once he saw the summit, once we were actually on the summit ridge, he did seem to pick up speed, and I think it was really, a realization that actually he was going to do it. - 6.

55 - yeah, 6.55. He'll be lucky to get to the top. - Not until it's dark. - Full on, headlight dark. - [Mark] When we got to the summit, it was obviously an incredibly emotional point for him, or time for him because he just embraced the summit. I just never imagined he'd do that. I thought being the classic Renaissance man he would have stood there, with that classic mountaineer type pose, hand on knee. You could definitely sense his elation. He seemed to be very much at peace all of a sudden,

that he'd done it. He'd finally cracked that obsession I guess. I finally got his attention, and said well digger you've finally done it. You've really done it this time. And then looking at the sunset, I said, right, we've got to get out of here, now. And he quite happily stood up, and started to, well both of us I guess, stumbled down towards the beginning of the ridge, and by then it was dark. I mean within a matter of ten to twenty minutes, which put us literally 20 to 30 meters from the sum

mit. I mean I was just shocked, to see how close we were to the top. It was just unbelievable. I guess the scary bit about spending a night out, in the open without any equipment. That altitude, you cannot expect, to walk away without some type of damage. Because of the extremity of just trying to exist up there. - [Crew] Bivouac, French for mistake. - [Mark] That night was definitely the worst night I've ever had in the hills. The coldest I've ever experienced. I can remember half way through t

he night, that I'd had a water bottle in my down suit, inside it and I thought oh great, I've got some water, because I was just so thirsty. And I reached in to pull it out, and I was shocked to see that it was frozen. And here it was inside my down suit, almost against my skin and it was frozen solid. And I all of a sudden realized, that my hands and my feet were going to freeze as well. Mike would lie in my lap, and I'd put my arms around him and hold him, and cuddle him. He'd try, actually, a

s much as warm him, to try to get some heat for myself, from him. It was just amazing how long the night seemed to go on, and on, and on. I really didn't think that we would, but we actually fell asleep. And, I came to, on top of Mike, sort of holding him. And he'd obviously been asleep for quite a while too. I knew straight away, that my feet were frozen. They had a very numb sensation. Very, very cold. It was just a very, sort of, wooden feeling. I'd sort of imagined, all we had to do was endu

re that night, and then once the sun was up in the morning, we could just sort of, almost charge down to camp six, pack up a bit of our gear, and then carry on down to our advance base camp that day. And you know, basically wire the window at ABC, the climb's over. It's like you're home, free. You know, you've made it. But, the next day turned out to be, probably, I guess the hardest day, I've ever had in the hills, ever. It just took forever to get started the next morning. Mike was incredibly

slow. The descent took so long. Mike was a long way behind me, and he just seemed to be getting slower, and slower. I think it was some sort of eight hours, or more, just to get to the top of the second step. And that's where our trouble started. So I said to him, I'll go down first, you abseil down and I'll film you. Because it's very steep, it's vertical, and it just looks good, because you're looking all the way down the North Face, down to the north pole. And he just did not seem to comprehe

nd what I was saying at all. And he was trying to tell me something I didn't really understand what he was saying. Just keep moving down. - [Mike] Sorry? - [Mark] Just keep moving down. - [Mike] OK. - [Mark] So he went down, and because it's steep, you disappear, and so I was waiting for a long time for him to get off the rope. And I could see the tension on the rope, because it was draped over this edge. And what had happened was, he'd abseiled off the wrong side of this block. And here he is,

swinging in space, and I was just blown away, because he was on very thin, stretched, and totally shredded rope. Sort of just swinging. Over an overhang, no contact with rock at all. I just couldn't believe that these thin strands of rope were holding him. It was just unbelievable. And that was really, the beginning of the epic that it became. Because he was so exhausted, just trying to physically climb back up the rope, with his pecsals as ascenders. And of course the intense worry of ascenders

, biting straight into this few strands of climbing rope. They (mumbles) people would have had the grad tour of the North Face. Once Mike finally got back up onto the rock, he couldn't say anything. And I said, what's wrong, what's your problem? You know we've got to get out of here. You know I was getting quite impatient. And he took two steps, and tripped, and fell on his side. And I thought he tripped, but I thought he was lying down by the way he was sitting. I said, come on, we've got to go

. You know, this is just going to take forever, we've got to get to six tonight. And then he just said, I can't see. You know, I can't see. And I realized he's blind. And I thought oh, he must be snow blind. Because of the way I felt, I figured he was just more tired than me, that was all. Again, naive, I just didn't, it didn't occur to me that it was then, that Mike was really starting to suffer from the effects of altitude, or lack of oxygen. That's one of the signs of cerebral edema, at quite

a high level. So I said, okay, well look, I'll just guide you around here, it's pretty straight forward. Here's a fixed line, here's a fixed rope that we can arm wrap around, so you can hang onto. We got along a little way, he probably got about four or five steps, all linked really nicely, and then he tripped. But because of the safety line, he kind of stayed upright on the ledge, so it was kind of a system, it was sort of working. And, then we ran out of fix rope. My primary concern really, w

as Mike ripping me off this ledge. So I was trying to set him up, so that I had an ax in his right hand, and I was still holding him with the short rope style in my left hand. So he was in balance, and it was just like, okay, move your right hand forward, and then I'll pull your left hand, and then step. We took a couple of steps, and the next thing I know, he's just air born almost ripping me off my feet. Fortunately I'd actually managed to get my ice ax hooked into a solid bit of rock, because

it's quite loose. And he just seemed to be just lying there, just completely oblivious and not moving. Just totally limp I mean, I was screaming at him to get his weight off my arm, because I was really losing arm strength just holding his weight. And, it was then I saw that the impact had blown his down suit zipper open, and I could see a radio. And I'd completely forgotten about the radio. And I grabbed the radio, and turned it on, and just yelled out, this is Mark, is there anyone listening?

And unbeknownst to me, the whole valley was just wired into scanning stations, waiting to hear for radio transmission. - [Crew] Hey Mark, you copy me? And then I was surprised to hear Eric come on. And said yeah hi, this is Simo, what the hell's going on up there? Simo said well, look you're going to have to leave Mike there. We're going to get someone to come up and help you. Others tried this morning but it was too windy. But they left oxygen at the first step. - There's a bottle, a full bott

le at the top of the first step, and there's a full bottle at the bottom of the first step, over. - And I mean I could see the first step. You know it wasn't far away. For me I thought I could duck down there, real quick. - All you got to do is get your but over there and pick it up. - I figured that it I could put Mike on oxygen, we could move much more quickly, and once you're on oxygen of course, you're a lot warmer. And I clipped Mike in, and I told him look, you're safe, don't move, and I'l

l be back soon. - [Eric] Yeah Jason is leaving camp six now. And hopefully he will meet you at the first step and help you down, over. - I guess I got down to the oxygen, just before sunset. And there was a couple of bottles there. I took a while to find them, but I finally found them. And I clapped, and put the hose into one, and plugged it on, and sucked that sweet air. - [Crew] Cheers. - Maybe you should just sit there for a couple of minutes, and suck some hose. - And Eric said can you see J

ason? He's coming up. We can't talk to him because his radio's not working. And, I was like going, oh, you know, I'm not, I felt like I'd been waiting for people all day, kind of a feeling, and I thought I want to go. So I said, no, I can't see him, and they said, look below, he should have his head lamp on by now. And I couldn't see him, and then Simon said look, go down the first step, and see if you can see him from there. - My guess is he'll probably be cresting out onto the ridge probably i

n the next half an hour. - And at that point, I was starting to feel a little sort of suspicious about the attitudes of people at base camp. I sort of had this feeling, that they were trying to lure me away from Mike, and leave him. And save myself. And I was at that point, determined to go back up. - This is a real tough call. Do you think you, I mean, do you think it's possible to get Mike down, or do you think he's too far gone? - I was just concerned that it was sort of like, they were happy

to write Mike off, just so I can get down. - My concern is at this point, you Mark. I want you to get down. You got a life ahead of you, you got a family and a wife and a business, and a future, and I've watched you for the last 24 hours, do one of the most incredible guiding I've ever watched. I just wonder if you've taken it as far as you can. I'd like you to repel down the first step, and start working down the ridge and meet Jason, and go down to camp six with him, over. - No way you know,

I'm not leaving him. There's no way I can leave him. I couldn't just walk away. - I don't think that Jason's going to be strong enough to help you bring him down. At that point I'd had enough of talking with Simo. And unbeknown to me, Mike Perry was in the valley. - He's just arriving now, and I want you to talk to him, over. This is the fucking pits. You can't stay in here if you're going to cry Susan. - Perry and Rheinberger an me we were pretty good friends, pretty close, and had spent most o

f the time together on this expedition. So I guess it was just sort of incredible timing. Because he walked into the base camp tent. - [Perry] If we don't get the bottles to Mike, I'm afraid that's the end. - [Simo] Jason's never even climbed the first step. - [Perry] I know, I know what we're asking. - [Simo] He's not going to be able to do, I don't think he's going to be able to get to him. I mean Jason's got to walk over this knife edge he's never been on... - [Perry] In the dark. - [Simo] In

the dark, and then come back. - [Perry] Can we ask Jason to simply go as far as he feels possible for him without him going... - [Simon] My feeling right now is, we've got to get Mark down. I mean this is Mike's holy crusade, and he made it to the top. And if he dies in the process, that's the way it goes. It's a hell of a thing to say, but, just the bottom line. The bottom line is that he doesn't take anybody else with him. - [Unknown American] But, how do you get Mark to leave Mike? I mean yo

u've got to get him away. - [Perry] Well I can try various ways of doing it. Like lying. - Mark, it's Mark at base camp, can you copy? - And he asked how I felt, I said I was okay. He said are you cold or warm? - Mark I want you to go down to camp six now. - What about Mike, I can't, if I was warm, if I said I was warm, what would you have said? Go back up. - Jason is doing his very best, to get past you shortly as you go down to six. Carry on up the first step, and go on over to Mike. He's got

oxygen, he's going to do his very, very best. You've already done that. Please go down to six. - I was really shocked to hear him say that I should be going down and not up. I should be descending, and not climbing back up to Mike. That concept just blew me away, to hear it coming from a friend. - Mark I can't imagine going back to Evie, and telling her you're not coming back. - And I don't know what it was, but it was just something that said, tripped something off because I realized all of a s

udden, because of the way that I felt, that all of a sudden, it just occurred to me, that I had been pushing I guess, too hard, for too long. - Mark are you going to go down now? - Maybe if I did go back up there, that I wouldn't be coming down. - You're going to go directly to six, Mark? You're going to go now? - More than likely, I'd have to bivvy, and spend another night out in the open, with Mike, and then try and come down the next day. And I really doubted that I'd survive another night ou

t. - Go, go. - I just felt weak. I just felt I guess, that I'd tried, I did my best, but I was going to be coming down alone. - Be very careful Mark. - So I clipped into the rope, and pretty much fell down the first step, and then, as if on cue, in walked Jason. He was there. So I just handed him the radio, just like that. I'd had enough. I guess I'd just hit the wall. - We want you to both go down. Jason, we want you to both go down to six, over. - By the time I got back to camp six, it was mid

night. And I was just completely trashed. I guess I just sort of drifted off, into a pretty exhausted sleep. And it was the next day, descending down the ropes, that I was like all of a sudden, I just had this incredible sort of growing sense of guilt, that I'd walked away from someone. I was really starting to feel bad thinking about Mike still up there, waiting for me. After all, I said I'd be back soon. I just felt, I guess, this incredible heaviness on my shoulders. That I was going to have

to look at people, and say, well you know I had to walk away from a friend, leave him. Leave him to die. I expected this distance that I was going to be asked didn't you want to go back up? And it was never like that at all. At the bottom of the fixed ropes, outside ABC, there was quite a substantial welcoming committee. I guess I was a little surprised at the sort of welcoming, and the open arms, and how much people were glad to see me. We went into one of Russell's tents, and the boots came of

f, and sure enough, they were pretty much frozen back to the joint of the foot. I was on oxygen, got food back into me, liquids, and recovery. And my mind was just racing. So much, I was re-living those last few days. Incredibly detailed, about how I could have changed the events, how things could have been different. And how I could have perhaps saved Mike. I was looking for an excuse to blame someone. I guess initially I picked on Simo, and said that he lured me away. He deceived me. But he kn

ew that if I'd have gone back up, there would have been very little chance of me surviving. He said later that, he didn't care if I hated him, for the rest of his life. That at least I was alive. - [Simo] That the unattainable is, after all, just that, unattainable. - [Mark] Because he would have hated himself, having let me go back up, and die. I had people around me all the time, you know. Caring for me, which was great. But I was finding it, quite sort of, overwhelming. Just this people facto

r on me all the time, are you okay, this caring, I tend to try to look after myself. And I wasn't really coping with this attention all the time. And I was desperate to get back to Queenstown. - I went to Kathmandu to meet him. And I'll never forget it actually, when he finally showed up, because I knew that he'd been so very close to death, and it was just a miracle that he was there, really. It was a very emotional moment for me really. - I guess coming back to Queenstown, meant I was home, an

d the actual trip was over. But really, that was the beginning of this whole spiraling nightmare. I didn't realize what huge battle for survival lay ahead. The shock to me was it was suggested, I may lose my lower leg. Frostbite is an unknown quantity, and you have to wait. I had to sit there and just day in day out, watch my toes die. That took three months for that to happen. It was obvious then, that, what had lived and what had died, which was then time for them to come off. And then after t

he toes came off, it was painful again to walk. And again I had to be sitting up all the time with my feet elevated. I guess I spent the best part of a year on the couch. - The pain would keep him awake. It was a pretty difficult time for him. - I was actually trying to cope with two different things. My feet, and the fact that I had to leave a friend behind. Trying to sort that out of my mind, was really when, for me the demons arrived. It was really dreams, nightmares, about the last moments t

hat I was with Mike. I was holding him and my ax would blow out, and I was just like catapulted off with him. Head over heels somersaulting feeling. And I'd wake up just screaming, as if I was falling. That's kind of how I began to drink quite heavily I guess. I was feeling sorry for myself, and I was scared, I was scared of going to sleep. I guess I had, I kind of call it, my dark period. I felt that if I can't climb, what have I got to live for? I was at a point of depression where I had consi

dered bolting a bottle of scotch, and driving off the end of the road kind of thing. You know I'd even had the site lined up and everything. Take the big exit. But one day, it was a really wild day. I just got out of the car and looked at this incredible beauty that I live very close to. That really was a moment, that I started to climb out of this deep darkness. It was just one of those personal revelations I suppose, just being there, being surrounded by the things I loved. And I realized, the

re was so much more to live for. It felt like it was sort of the beginning of my road back to the Himalayas. And I began plans to climb Cho Oyu, which is one of the 14 8,000 meter mountains. It gave me a reason to start to get back into shape. Back in control, of myself, and that was great for me. - [Ansja} I Noticed That When We Started To Organize an expedition to Cho Oyu, that he was very interested. - [Mark] I had reservations, but I committed, because it gave me a very, sort of, positive fo

cus, and it turned into a bit of a race, because my feet hadn't healed, but I figured I had enough time, for them to heal. - It seemed to change him. It seemed he had a focus again, to heal, to go back to the Himalayas, to places he loved so much. And maybe, and try and come to terms, with Mike's death. - [Mark] It was like not only sort of light at the end of the tunnel, but the end of the tunnel was behind me all of a sudden. I was just like out there, back out there, bright sunny day stuff. I

t was a very positive thing. The most positive thing for me in two years of rehabilitation. The expedition consisted of a few Queenstown people, and friends, and also people that worked within my business, Mountainworks. For all of them, it was their first time to the Himalayas. And that's not so unique these days. I think the uniqueness is the fact that, all of them were on the sixth highest mountain in the world, without any other Himalayan experience. I realized that all these people, as my r

esponsibility, and it was up to me to look after them, and see that they had a safe climb, under my guidance. So I really had the responsibility of their lives in my hands. My initial feeling when I realized my responsibility, was a little overwhelming, if anything. Because I had my own concerns, my feet. My feet were in a pretty bad way. And look my feet weren't right, I couldn't perform. If I couldn't perform, it was possibly going to affect the success, ultimately, or, my next nightmare, the

failure, of the expedition. The anxiety of just having to walk, was quite scary. The difficulty in Cho Oyu, was more it's height than it's technical nature. It's the sixth highest mountain in the world. It's 8,201 meters, it's big, it's very high and people die on it. People were dying around us. Unfortunately a German expedition leader died at base camp from pulmonary edema, which is a flooding of the lungs. He didn't realize the symptoms, and unfortunately he died. To see someone die, it's lik

e well, we've learnt from that. We don't need that as an example, no-one does. You know what is six weeks, in your life, if it's going to take another week, to acclimatize properly, I mean is it worth it? That was an incredible eye-opener for our group. And the fact that these dangers, exist and can happen to anybody. And I think the group realized that it's a very fragile line, that they're actually tied to. As the expedition progressed, the better my feet became, funnily enough the higher I go

t, the better I felt. And incredibly, they'd healed. Cho Oyu was very positive. We managed to pull together all our resources. Each person singularly contributed in their own way, that on their own aren't very valuable, but collectively, as a group of ten to twelve people, becomes quite a strong force that does allow people to succeed, where they wouldn't succeed on their own. You can have many ideas, but to pull one off, and see it work, and to see it right through, says to me that you can beli

eve in yourself in terms of what you wanted to achieve. You know if you really want something, if you really, really want it, you can go out there and get it. Cho Oyu for me was definitely getting back on the big horse, that I'd really fallen off, heavily. To get to the summit, really confirmed everything in my mind that I knew I could do it. You know you're on the summit, because that's when you see Everest. You can't see Everest at all, until you're literally on the top of Cho Oyu. And I could

see the route that I've been on, on Everest so many times very clearly. And I was definitely trying to pin point the spot where Mike might be lying. It was a funny feeling looking up and knowing Mike's still up there, kind of thing. Those memories of those last two days come charging back. It took a while for me as to how I came to terms with him dying, but he really got what he wanted. And he was happy about that. He had set himself out to climb Everest, and really wanted to achieve. And I rea

lized that I had no right to take that from him. It was definitely the high point of his life, I think, for Mike to climb to embrace it the way he did, to just be there, glowing in that sunset. And I don't think that he could say that there was anything better than that moment in his life, really. I actually was the lucky one, to share the summit with Mike. Looking across to Everest, that kind of put Everest in an order. It was like the curtain was drawn, and Everest was behind me. When you acce

pt the fact that you are going to die, which it's not a case of if, it's when and where, once you accept that fact, you actually really start living. It's not that life's so short, it's just that you're dead so long. So it's a case of making the most of it. Closing credits